Earlier today we linked you to a Toronto newspaper column that condemned Leafs fans for being insensitive to coach Ron Wilson’s feelings.

Meanwhile, at the National Post, columnist Bruce Arthur was feeling a little less blame-the-victimmy.

Following is an excerpt of Arthur’s scathing critique of both Wilson and Leafs general manager Brian Burke:

At [yesterday’s] morning skate, coach Ron Wilson had crowed that “all these rumours the last couple weeks have shown that they were nothing but rumours,” as if it wasn’t Burke who took to the radio last week to say he was looking for a goaltender. All these rumours, as if it wasn’t someone with the Leafs who leaked the fact the team had an offer for pending free agent Mikhail Grabovski.

Burke, of course, also claimed fans don’t like Wilson because he doesn’t kiss up to the media, which really explains those “FI-RE WIL-SON!” chants Tuesday night. And Wilson was the one strapping explosives to Jonas Gustavsson and James Reimer in public, day after day. Oh, and the trade deadline stuff. You want a confidence shaker, it’s not Darren Dreger and Bob McKenzie.

“I think the trade deadline is hard on players, but I think it’s murder on players in Toronto,” Burke said Monday. “And we just had a serious debate whether next year we’re going to do this 10 days earlier so the players can relax.”

The pressure of the trade deadline? Really? This is Toronto, for God’s sake. Burke knew the moment he took this job what he had to build, and what kind of players were required to build it, and four years later this is a viable excuse?

Frankly, it’s amazing we don’t read more columns like that out of Toronto. Burke’s been in charge of the Leafs since late 2008 and they still don’t have a top-line center or goalie they can trust. He signed regular healthy scratch Mike Komisarek to a big, long contract. He gave Tim Connolly $9.5 million over two years. He took Matthew Lombardi off Nashville’s hands to get Cody Franson, another frequent press-box occupant and, at 24 years old, not exactly green as grass anymore.

Yeah, yeah, the Leafs are one of the youngest teams in the NHL – doesn’t mean they’ll be any good. Anyone can put together a young team — just check IDs.

Not to mention, Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf are unrestricted free agents after two more seasons. Those are Burke’s two main building blocks. Not saying they’re bound to jump ship, but they might be tempted if things don’t get better. And if things don’t get better, it might not be Burke they’ll be negotiating with anyway.

As Arthur writes, “This organization has escaped competitive relevance for so long now, and as it happens again the excuses come to bear. Well, save it. The next 19 games are not just a referendum on the goaltending, on the defencemen, on the forwards, on the coach. They’re yet another referendum on Burke, who lords over this entire operation. This is Toronto. Nobody should act surprised.”

The New York Islanders made a splash on Friday, signing veteran forward Cal Clutterbuck to a five-year, $17.5 million extension — one that carries a $3.5 million average annual cap hit through 2023.

Clutterbuck, 29, has two goals and nine points through 25 games this year, while averaging 15:26 TOI per night (his highest average since joining the Isles four years ago). As per usual, he leads the club in hits — one of the staples of his game — and serves as one of the club’s alternate captains.

This new contract represents a nice raise for the former Minnesota Wild man. His last contract, set to expire in July, was of the four-year, $11 million variety, and carried a $2.75 million cap hit.

This contract also resembles the one GM Garth Snow gave another of the club’s role forwards. This summer, Casey Cizikas signed a five-year, $16.75 million extension — one with a $3.35 million hit — despite the fact he’d never scored more than 30 points in a season, or averaged more than 14 minutes of ice time.

This style of spending — along with splashes made for free agent disappointments Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd — is sure to raise some questions. The Isles opted not to spend that money on retaining two of their key players from a season ago, Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo, and the club has struggled to find its form through the first quarter of this year.

“We’re not going to give out any numbers now,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said yesterday, per Yahoo Sports. “The cap could range from where it is now to a couple or so million up, but we’re all going to have to focus on what makes the most sense moving forward.”

The salary cap only went up slightly for the current season, from $71.4 million to $73 million. The only slight increase was due to the lower Canadian dollar, which negatively impacted last season’s league revenues by “$100 or 200 million,” Bettman said earlier this year.

The loonie has been holding relatively steady for around half a year. It’s currently worth $0.76 USD and has been helped by the recent oil rally.

A flat salary cap would be bad news for big spenders like the Chicago Blackhawks, who still need to get Artemi Panarin signed to an extension. The Los Angeles Kings could also be forced to make some tough decisions, as they’ve got Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson in need of new deals. Ditto for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have key RFAs in Brian Dumoulin, Justin Schultz, and Conor Sheary.

Henrik Lundqvist has set such a high bar that his 12-8-1 record with a .912 save percentage is cause for great concern these days in New York.

That his backup, Antti Raanta, is 6-1-0 with a .932 save percentage only contributes to that concern, because if Raanta can manage those numbers, what’s Lundqvist’s excuse?

“I feel like I’m tracking the puck well, moving well,” Lundqvist told the Daily News. “It just comes down to some bad decisions at times that cost me.”

Indeed, December has not started well for The King. He’s allowed 10 goals in three starts for a save percentage of .894. In Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Islanders, his decision to poke check a loose puck led to the winning goal by Andrew Ladd.